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Albany’s Princess Royal Fortress was named by British Explorer George Vancouver in 1791. He chose to honour Princess Charlotte, Queen of Wurttemberg and eldest daughter of King George III. The local Minang Noongar people call it ‘Mammang Koort’ meaning ‘The Heart of the Wild Whale’.

Recognising the strategic importance of Albany and it’s magnificent harbours, construction began in 1891 on the Princess Royal Fortress (‘The Forts’) paid for by the British Imperial government and the various Australian colonies. This episode of Backyard Battlefields is about the history of this jewel of the ‘Great Southern’ and it’s place in Western Australian history.

WA’s Hereford. Swanbourne is the location of ‘Campbell Barracks’ a defence establishment named for Lt. Colonel J.A Campbell, who joined the Cameron Highlanders (79th) at aged 14, rose through the ranks and became the Commandant of Commonwealth Military Forces in Western Australia. Located in the heart of what is known as Perth’s ‘Golden Triangle’ it is the home of Australia’s premier Special Forces unit, the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:

Corunna Downs is a 300,000 acre sheep station named for a clash of the Peninsula War, the Battle of Corunna. During World War 2 it was the location of a top secret airbase used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and elements of the US 380th Bomb Group to strike targets in South East Asia. It was a harsh posting and at it’s peak hosted 300 personnel. (Unless specified all images courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)

ABC INTERVIEW

You can hear my interview with ABC Perth ‘Afternoons’ with Michael Tetlow (at about 1 hour 43 mins) here:

Axford Park is a small reserve in the suburb of Mount Hawthorn. It is named for soldier and local resident, Thomas Leslie ‘Jack’ Axford of 16 Infantry Battalion who was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. This operation was directed by Australian General John Monash and was considered a ‘text-book’ victory which included the use of massed MKV tanks, a technique pioneered at Hamel. The Victoria Cross is the highest award in the British honours system and is granted for extraordinary valour ‘in the face of the enemy’.

Nestled in the quiet suburb of Mount Lawley just North of Perth there is a Masonic Hall built in 1928. It was designed by prolific Western Australian architect George Herbert Parry in an interwar ‘Beaux-Arts’ style. Parry was best known for his ecclesiastical work, but designed a number of iconic buildings in Western Australia. Of particular note is the Captain Stirling Hotel (The ‘Cap S’) and the ‘Soldiers Convalescent Home’ in the Perth Hills. The latter was designed in a ‘Dutch Cape’ style and modelled on ‘Groote Schuur’ the Capetown home of mining magnate and politician Cecil Rhodes.

The Masonic Hall is on Alma Road and during the Second World War it found a new purpose, as the 6th Fighter Sector Headquarters for the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) responsible for the air defence of Western Australia.

On the 3rd of March 1942 Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft operating out of Kupang, Timor attacked the Western Australian town of Broome. At the time the port was full of refugees who had fled the Japanese assault on the Dutch East Indies. One of the last aircraft out was a Dutch airlines Dakota DC-3 named the ‘Pelikaan’. It was piloted by a Russian Ace Captain Ivan ‘Turc’ Smirnoff, who unbeknownst to him carried a fortune in diamonds which originally were sent to Bandung from Amsterdam to avoid falling into Nazi hands. Now to avoid capture by the Japanese they were bound for the Commonwealth Bank in Australia.

Captain Smirnoff was approaching Broome, just as the Japanese attack force was departing and was attacked by Zero fighters and crash landed on a remote beach. The diamonds subsequently disappeared. This episode is an interview with Juliet Wills, Journalist and author of ‘The Diamond Dakota Mystery’ the amazing story of the missing Dutch diamonds and the 1942 Broome attack.

William Dampier was an English Pirate, author and explorer. He published numerous books including ‘A New Voyage Around the World (1697) which was a unique blend of adventure and natural history which made him a popular sensation. He was the first English person to explore the coast of Western Australia in the ship HMS Roebuck which was the first Royal Navy expedition solely dedicated to science and exploration.